


A Battle of Wits

by Everybody_Loves_Chocolate



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Basically Non-Existent, Betrayal, Crushes, Getting Together, Halloween, Kinda, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan-centric, M/M, Minor Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Mischief, No Plot/Plotless, Swearing, Very very minor, i just didn't want to leave anyone out, i think i still did tho, it's not really that focused on the relationship tbh, let me be, most characters aren't relevant to the plot, that happens here too, they literally only get sweets if they win, they play a game, y'know how people get awfully serious over games, yes i know it's over
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:33:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27975202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Everybody_Loves_Chocolate/pseuds/Everybody_Loves_Chocolate
Summary: Donghyuck is the champion of the Hunting Game. He's not going to lose to anyone, he's not going to be tricked. He also will definitely not be distracted by Mark being too cute for his own good.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 8
Kudos: 46





	A Battle of Wits

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so I randomly remembered a game I played in summer camp in 7th grade and I got so heated, I had to put it into fanfiction. Just fyi, whenever they say something in italics it's English, other than that they're speaking Korean.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Before going to college, Donghyuck's favourite holiday was Christmas, simply because you got a lot of sweets and a lot of gifts. However, that changed when he became a resident of the dorm 006 in his dream college. This particular dorm had a tradition of playing the hunting game every Halloween.

The hunting game wasn't something Donghyuck heard of before but then, when the time came around, it seemed like Donghyuck had a talent for it. 

It works like this: The head of the dorm writes the name of every resident on their respective paper. Those papers get distributed in a way that everyone has one paper with the name of someone else. The one with the paper, the hunter, and the one whose name is on the paper, the prey, don't necessarily have to have anything to do with each other. They could be friends, lovers, acquaintances or even strangers. All the same, the hunter has to get the prey to pick something up for them or just give them something. If the hunter succeeds, the prey has to give them their paper and the hunter has a new prey. There's also the option to steal the prey's paper but unless they're asleep, no one let's go of their paper in dorm 006. This goes the whole day, 24 hours, and no one ever misses the opportunity to fuck up the peaceful life of others. It seems easy at first but unless you get someone who forgets about the game early on, it's pretty hard.

Donghyuck, however, has a two year streak in winning almost every single paper. Once, he even tricked Renjun into picking up trash for him, causing the small ball of rage to chase Donghyuck for the rest of the day and preventing him from getting any more papers. Donghyuck still won though.

He is pretty sure that it isn't going to be any different this year. Donghyuck already has plans for almost every person in the dorm. He has the advantage of being a social butterfly and knowing everyone by name, their major, their age, their weaknesses. The only person who Donghyuck doesn't know that well yet is Lee Mark, a new addition to the dorm. He's from Canada, only speaks broken Korean and seems pretty introverted. To be honest, Donghyuck's kinda into him but there are several problems. 

1) Donghyuck does not know whether Mark is straight or not and he does not give of _any_ kind of vibe so it's hard to find out by himself.

2) They can hardly communicate smoothly, what with Donghyuck sucking at speaking English and Mark's Korean not succeeding the vocabulary of a barely first grade kid.

3) Donghyuck likes people who might seem innocent outside but are actually just as mischievous as him on the inside and Mark is really just a good kid.

So Donghyuck sticks with his little, tiny attraction he feels toward Mark and hopes to at least become friends with him. They have two classes together, though they are mandatory, and they sit next to each other in both of them.

Anyways, Donghyuck has plans and he's going to set them into action.

Donghyuck is sitting awake on his bed just a few minutes before Halloween, waiting for Taeyong to come and give him his paper. Taeyong always hands them out personally to make sure everyone gets their paper and everyone knows the rules. He also gives everyone an alarm clock set for 12 pm on the 31st of October to signal the end of the game. Everyone has to have it on their body somewhere during the whole game so that something like everyone conspiring to set their phones back an hour doesn't happen again.

There's a soft knock on his door and Donghyuck basically jumps up, a wide smile on his face. He opens the door and Taeyong steps in, rolling his eyes at the sight. 

“You're way too enthusiastic about this,” he sighs as he hands Donghyuck the folded piece of paper. Donghyuck gasps, pretending to be offended as he takes it and complains, “Just because some of you guys suck at this game doesn't mean I'm too enthusiastic. Maybe this whole thing was just made for me.”

Taeyong laughs at that and pats Donghyuck on the shoulder with a hum.

“Don't be too comfortable now. I have a feeling you're going to lose this time around. There's just something about Mark...”

Donghyuck huffs a laugh, not believing anything Taeyong is saying. There's no way Donghyuck is going to lose his throne to a kid from Canada. Never ever.

“Does Mark even understand the rules?”

Taeyong just raises his eyebrows and shrugs before handing Donghyuck his alarm clock and heading out again to give out the rest of his papers. Donghyuck closes the door behind him and throws himself onto his bed, opening his paper with way too much excitement.

_Nakamoto Yuta_

A challenge right from the start, huh?

Yuta is someone who doesn't trust anyone unless their name is Osaki Shotaro and that says a lot because those two only got to know each other this semester. Shotaro originally lived at home but his parents told him to move into a dorm so that he can be more independent. Yuta and him immediately bonded over being Japanese, resulting in Yuta taking on an almost motherly role towards the younger boy. 

Taeyong knows this, of course he does, but that won't stop Donghyuck from winning this damn game. He didn't succeed in tricking Yuta the last two years so his paper snatching always stopped at him but this time Donghyuck has a feeling that he might actually get him.

As he turns to stare at his ceiling until it's Halloween, Donghyuck wonders whose target he is. Last year it was Sicheng who almost succeeded but didn't count on being tricked first since Donghyuck had him as well, the year before was Jeno but Jeno is too obvious so he never even got close.

Maybe Taeyong gave it to Renjun this time for revenge or he kept it himself just to completely screw Donghyuck over. Taeyong has a way of not making it obvious that he's tricking you into doing something for him.

Donghyuck shudders as he remembers the time Johnny oh so naively handed Taeyong his coffee right after witnessing Taeyong slipping his hand under Jaehyun's shirt to steal his paper from where Jaehyun stuck it to himself. Taeyong is the only one who ever managed to steal someone's paper, though the price he had to pay was high. Silent treatment from Jaehyun for almost a week (originally Jaehyun planned to do it for a month but he was weak and Taeyong is better at the silent treatment than him). 

It's not like Taeyong knows who has who for everyone. It's just specific for Donghyuck because 'he's a menace to society', whatever that means.

Donghyuck sneaks a glance at his clock.

_00.01_

Yuta is never asleep before 2 am, simply because he can't sleep for more than six hours and he barely has any morning classes. And since Halloween is classes free for everyone (the teachers know their students get fucked on Halloween and torture them the day after) there's no way he's asleep already. 

So Donghyuck gets up and stretches, cracking a few bones before basically strutting out of his room, not bothering to lock the door. They have security cameras and no one would dare to face Taeyong's wrath, not to mention that nobody who lives in their dorm would even think about stealing anything. They're all just broke students at heart.

As Donghyuck guessed, Yuta is sitting in the kitchen, head in his hands and a cup of coffee in front of him as he mumbles to himself about something or another. This isn't an unusual sight at all, especially if Yuta had any tests or exams soon. Donghyuck isn't aware if Yuta has any tests coming up but that isn't his concern right now anyways, choosing to attack right then and there since Yuta seems very very vulnerable.

As Donghyuck steps closer, Yuta's words become clearer. Donghyuck rummages around the kitchen, pretending to only be interested in making a cup of tea as he listens to Yuta ramble.

“I can't do that to him, it would be a betrayal I wouldn't be able come back from. But that's the point, right? To betray each other. Jeno already betrayed Jaemin and they're probably making out right now. No hard feelings. Right? No, but he's so precious. I can't just do that to him.”

Yuta groans, apparently facing the dilemma of the year. Donghyuck doesn't exactly know who he's talking about but if he's so in doubt about hunting someone down it's probably Shotaro. And Shotaro is an easy target.

Donghyuck ceases the opportunity as Yuta is distracted trying to decide whether or not he's going to go after his probably favourite person in the whole world.

“Yuta hyung, could you hand me the sugar?” Donghyuck asks all innocently, and watches as Yuta continues mumbling, not even looking up as he reaches for the sugar and hands it over.

“Yuta hyung,” Donghyuck grins as he puts down the sugar. He doesn't want to ruin the mint flavour after all. Yuta looks up for the first time and his eyes widen as he realizes what just happened.

“Lee Donghyuck,” he growls but Donghyuck only holds out his hand with a smug look on his face. There's nothing Yuta can do about it and he knows so he pulls his paper out from his shoe (Donghyuck is a bit reluctant to take it after that) and grumbles about 'goddamn Lee Taeyong'. 

Everybody knows Taeyong picks for Donghyuck specifically after all. 

Yuta's murderous glare wavers as a very loud, very screechy, very _Chenle_ scream makes its way to their ears.

“Jung Sungchan I trusted you!” Chenle screeches just as Sungchan basically zooms past the kitchen, followed by a very dishelved looking Chenle. Sungchan only laughs and Chenle continues screaming at an hour that would've been called ungodly on any other day. Today though, people don't sleepily open their doors to see what's going on and Renjun doesn't threaten to kill both Sungchan and Chenle if they don't quiet down immediately. Today, only Mark comes out of his room with wide eyes and ruffled hair, staring down the hall the way Chenle and Sungchan ran.

“What is happening?”

Mark's Korean is very stilted when he's not stumbling over words, the kind of Korean you learn from apps, the internet or official classes. It's honestly kind of endearing but since he apparently neither knows how to read the mood nor take on any kind of daily slang it becomes awkward sometimes.

“Chenle just got betrayed, nothing serious,” Donghyuck replies and hopes that Mark understands because he really doesn't know what betray means in English. Mark's brows furrow and for a second, Donghyuck is scared as he tries to repeat what Donghyuck just said.

“Betr- betrayed?” Mark tilts his head and before either Donghyuck or Yuta can try to explain it (in Korean mind you), his eyes light up and he goes, “Ah, _betrayed_?”

Donghyuck clears his throat and glances at Yuta. It sounds right but he really doesn't know how Mark ended up in Korea with such limited Korean. Yuta only makes a face and shrugs so it's up to Donghyuck to say, “Uhh, yeah. Sure, it means, uh, _betrayed_.”

Mark smiles and says thank you for some reason before bowing and disappearing into his room again. Donghyuck blinks and sits down in front of Yuta to finally see who his next target is. 

As expected, it's Shotaro, easy, maybe even too easy to trick. Yuta only sighs at Donghyuck smirking down at his paper, plan already forming in his mind.

“Please at least go easy on him. He's a baby,” Yuta mumbles, sounding like he already gave up. Donghyuck only hums but doesn't promise anything as he gets up to visit Shotaro who's probably still in his room.

“Ah, Donghyuck, can I ask you something?” Shotaro asks with an innocent face and Donghyuck almost feels bad that he has to target him. He kinda gets where Yuta is coming from. Still, he nods as he steps into Shotaro and Yangyang's shared room. Yangyang isn't there so Donghyuck doesn't feel as bad as he would if someone was witnessing him tricking someone like Shotaro.

Shotaro gets his piece of paper from his bed and shows it to Donghyuck. Oh god no, this is going to be so easy.

“What does this say? Taeyong hyung's handwriting is a bit hard to read.”

Poor, innocent Shotaro hands the paper over to Donghyuck who's holding out his hand. It really does feel a bit mean to do this. Donghyuck never felt so guilty for playing a game. 

As Donghyuck's fingers close around the paper he admits, “I'm sorry to tell you this, Shotaro, but the paper says Yukhei and it's mine now because you were my target.”

Shotaro blinks at Donghyuck and his eyes go down to the paper, up to Donghyuck's face again.

“Oh...” he whispers, head lowering and Donghyuck can't have him be down for being a victim first thing in the morning so he ruffles Shotaro's hair and grins, “Don't be so down. I got Yuta hyung first so you guys can have a chill day together if you want to.”

Shotaro's face immediately gets brighter and he asks Donghyuck to lead him to Yuta which Donghyuck happily does. He really doesn't want the younger boy to be down again. 

Donghyuck brings Yuta and Shotaro together before excusing himself with the words, “You guys have fun, I have a tree to catch.”

Lunchtime comes around and Donghyuck is on a roll. He wasted a bit of time trying to catch Yukhei since the tall boy got more cautious after what happened to him last year. Still, Donghyuck caught him and since Yukhei already did a bit of work, it ended in Donghyuck having six papers in total. This means that there can potentially only be two people who have more papers than he does. Donghyuck is facing a bit of a crisis though because his next target is Renjun and he might not be tricked twice so Donghyuck has to be very very careful.

Lunchtime during holidays means that their whole dorm assembles in the community room to eat together. During Christmas, it's for dinner and only for anyone who's still at the dorm. And during Halloween, lunch has a very mistrusting energy all around. Nobody dares to be nice enough to give someone something if they ask for it unless they're too invested in the food to notice and when they finally do notice it's too late.

Who sits next to whom is something entirely up to them, though most people sit near their targets, just waiting for a chance to attack. Normally, Donghyuck arrives with the first ones but today he got distracted when Yangyang told him that their history professor sent them an email, detailing the assignments they'd have to do for the next class. And so, Donghyuck comes in last and the only chair that's free is the one between Mark and Renjun. Strategically, a good spot, realistically, not so much.

Renjun is surrounded by Chenle, Yangyang and Kunhang and whenever they're together they speak in rapid fire Chinese. Mark is pretty silent because Johnny, Jaehyun and Ten are sitting pretty far away. He probably wouldn't be talking much more even with people around who could talk with him, Mark seems to enjoy just watching.

As soon as Donghyuck is seated, eyeing the many many plates (every time Donghyuck asks himself how Taeyong and Kun can do all this and still be good at the game), Renjun elbows him and hisses, “Get that smug look off your face, nobody wants to know about your victories.”

Donghyuck laughs and throws an arm around Renjun's shoulders, knowing it's going to irritate him. Renjun glares and opens his mouth, probably to cuss at Donghyuck, but Taeyong interrupts him before he can get out a sound.

“Alright, boys. I'm sure you guys are tired and need to replenish your energy in order to reach your maximum power level. Kun and I made a lot and we hope you like it. Remember, no food fights,” Taeyong throws a pointed look in Chenle's direction, “or any weird business. You can trick others of course but no revenge on my lunch table. Feel free.”

Taeyong nods and everyone mumbles a quick, “Thanks for the food” before rushing to grab what they've wanted since entering the room. Mark, however, is just sitting quietly, waiting for everyone to take their food before taking some for himself. Donghyuck hesitates as he watches Mark carefully trying to eat a kimchi pancake with chopsticks, though it keeps slipping out and onto the plate again. It's honestly a bit frustrating to watch so Donghyuck taps Mark's shoulder to get his attention from the food to his face.

Mark looks up with wide doe eyes and Donghyuck thinks that it's a shame his standards don't allow him to ask Mark out right there. Clearing his throat, Donghyuck gestures towards the chopsticks before saying, “That's not how you do it.”

He gently takes the chopsticks out of Mark's hand and shows him how to slice the pancake and how to keep it long enough to take a bite. Donghyuck doesn't think they're close enough for Mark be fed by him so he puts the piece back down and holds out the utensils for Mark to take again. Mark smiles shyly and ducks his head, mumbling, “Ah, thank you but I think I will just take the- the, uhh, _fuck, what was it called again_?”

Before Donghyuck can try to help find whatever word Mark is searching for, the elder just picks up the fork from next to his plate and goes, “This. I will just eat with this.”

“A fork,” Donghyuck supplies as he puts the chopsticks down and smiles back at Mark. 

Across from them, just a few seats to the left, Jisung taps Ten and asks, bold as always, “Ten hyung, could you give me the dumpling plate?”

Somehow, even though Jisung didn't speak very loudly and he didn't say anything too unusual, the whole table hushes. Everybody's eyes are on Jisung and Ten, though Mark leans over to Donghyuck and whispers, “What is happening?”

Taking the opportunity of Ten giving Jisung very calculated looks, Donghyuck answers, just as quietly, “Jisung is making his move.”

Mark mumbles something under his breath and leans back probably to figure out if he understood Donghyuck right. Meanwhile Ten finally opens his mouth to tell Jisung, “I'm sorry but I think my arms wouldn't be long enough.” A blatant lie. The dumplings are literally standing right next to him. “I think Johnny would be a better pick.”

Johnny, who's been eating silently next to Ten almost chokes on his food at the mention of his name. Jisung pouts and makes his best puppy eyes, puffing out his cheeks. He really is cute but Ten isn't the champion of the 'Love you' game for nothing.

“Really, Jisung-ah, I can't reach it, look.”

Ten, who's hand is on the very edge of the table, stretches his fingers and pretends like he can't go further than that. Jisung's eyebrows draw together but he slumps in his seat and admits defeat with a sigh. He looks up at Johnny and asks, “Okay, can you give it to me then, hyung?”

Johnny nods and takes the plate to hand it over to Jisung. Everybody deems that exchange as uninteresting again and begins to turn back to eat again, though Donghyuck falters just as Jisung's fingers take ahold of the plate. A grin overtakes his face and Ten and Johnny and Donghyuck's eyes widen as Jisung pulls out his paper from under him. Donghyuck can't read it because it's facing the other way but whenever someone pulls out their paper it's either because they've been caught or because they just caught someone and in this case- “Thanks Johnny hyung, I'll take your paper then too.”

Ten gapes, Johnny gapes, Donghyuck is honestly a bit proud of their youngest. He never thought of that himself, ask someone who's not your target to hand you something for them to direct it into your target. It's so clever, Donghyuck almost feels threatened. He watches as Johnny grumbingly hands over his paper and Ten praises Jisung for his plans. Johnny isn't one to hold grudges though, so his face lights up again almost instantly as he seems to remember something and his eyes find Mark. They're a bit far apart but Johnny doesn't seem to care, speaking in English and a raised voice.

“ _Ayo Mark, who's your target_?”

Mark looks up from where he's been finally eating his kimchi pancake and raises an eyebrow. Donghyuck really shouldn't be that interested in their exchange, especially since he can't understand half of it but he can't seem to take his eyes off of Mark. He seems a little bit like a different person when he speaks English.

“ _Do you really think I'm going to tell you? After what you did last year with the Secret Santa when I told you who I got? You literally ratted me out from miles and miles away and I'm supposed to trust you when we're living in the same building_?”

Johnny laughs at what Mark just said, whatever that was, but before he can answer, Jaehyun interrupts, inserting himself into the conversation, asking, “ _Why, what happened last year_?”

That much Donghyuck understood but between the fast Chinese to his right and the heated English on his left, mixed with Korean for the rest of the table, he couldn't really understand much more, unable to concentrate. He gives up trying to decipher what anybody is saying and continues eating instead. Renjun still has to be tricked and it's not going to be easy. Donghyuck might have to revise his plan since he didn't take into account that he would get Renjun with less than twelve hours left. For his original plan he would have waited for a situation Renjun let his guard down but he didn't have enough time for that unless Renjun somehow already acquired six papers as well. Donghyuck needs twelve papers to win certainly after all. And Renjun may be good but so are the others, Donghyuck just got lucky.

Donghyuck wonders if he should use a strategy like Jisung and pretend to be after someone else so that Renjun let's his guard down. He'll have to be subtle though because it isn't like Donghyuck to just openly ask someone to hand him something or pick something up for him to get their paper. Renjun is perceptive enough to tell the difference and if Donghyuck chooses the right person, there might actually be a chance of him tricking him a second time.

“Lee goddamn Donghyuck! Get the fuck back here and let me beat your ass, how dare you copy Jisung's strategy?!”

Donghyuck cackles as he runs from Renjun, two papers desperately clasped in his hand. He can't believe it actually worked. Sure, it took him an hour to lull Renjun into a sense of false security and another half an hour to actually get him to pick something up but it was still faster than he expected. 

Donghyuck chose to pretend like it's Taeil he's after, subtly trailing the elder and offering to help out with the dishes. Taeil didn't trust him, not handing him anything and just telling him to get it himself. He still gadly accepted the help though. Taeil not giving Donghyuck anything played right into his hands as it didn't make anyone realize that Taeil wasn't actually his target.

Renjun let his guard down and was so kind as to hand Donghyuck a rag to wipe down the table and that's when he grinned from ear to ear and demanded Renjun's paper. Renjun glared daggers at him, handed them over and took after Donghyuck as soon as the younger boy made a run for it.

That's how Donghyuck finds himself running into a seemingly random room (Nothing Donghyuck does on Halloween is random. He's well aware of who's room it is.) and slamming the door shut behind him. He locks the door quickly and immediately after taking his hands off the door hears a loud 'thud' and Renjun swearing.

“What, did you get him or something?” someone asks from behind Donghyuck and he turns to find his next target on the bed, playing a game on his phone. Yangyang raises an eyebrow and nods his head towards the door.

“He doesn't sound too happy, what with the cursing you to hell and back in every language he knows.”

Donghyuck laughs and plops down beside Yangyang, trying to catch his breath before targeting the next one who's going to curse him in probably even more languages.

After Yangyang is tricked and probably forming an alliance with Renjun to sacrifice Donghyuck for the greater good, Donghyuck's pursues are way easier. He doesn't have to make up any elaborate schemes for neither Jeno nor Sungchan and so, Donghyuck's papers amount to a total of thirteen by 8 pm.

The whole time, no one tries to get Donghyuck to pick something up or hand him something and Donghyuck wonders if Taeyong chose someone who isn't willing to go up against him. That would be boring though, so while Donghyuck starts on the history assignments he waits for someone to come into his room and offer to eat dinner together or something. Dejun and Jungwoo do come over but only to steal Donghyuck's Switch and his precious time. 

Around 11 pm, Donghyuck comes to the conclusion that someone already tried to trick him but he was so occupied with his own targets that he didn't even notice and the one who is supposed to hunt him just gave up after Donghyuck holed up in his room.

A glance at the clock tells Donghyuck that Halloween is almost over. He hits the save button for his history document just as a soft knock comes from the door. 

It's Mark, already in his pyjamas and looking ready to fall into bed right then and there and Donghyuck wonders what he wants from him but that question is quickly answered by Mark asking, “Hey, could I have your history books if you don't need them right now? The, uh, _assignments_ , the-” Mark snaps his fingers. “the assignments seem to require them.”

Donghyuck nods and turns around to grab his books. He's almost finished anyways and he doesn't need them anymore. Mark still doesn't have all the books because he arrived very last minute and they always need a bit to be delivered. Donghyuck lends him his books often so this isn't unusual to ask of him. He takes the two books and makes sure they're the right ones before turning back to Mark who's still standing in the hallway. 

Donghyuck steps up to him again and smiles, both feeling good because his victory is near and because Mark looks really cute in those pyjamas.

But then, just as Mark takes the books, the corners of his lips lift up, and Mark is grinning at Donghyuck with a mischievous glint in his eyes. He pulls out his paper and-

_Lee Donghyuck_

No. Donghyuck's eyes widen in fear as Mark says, in fluent Korean, “You shouldn't trust people who seem innocent, Donghyuck-ah, especially not forgeiners. Now hand over your papers, I believe they belong to me now.”

Donghyuck, almost in trance, pulls all of his papers out of his pockets and hands them over to Mark. Mark thanks him with a bright smile and a kiss to his cheek. The door falls shut and it takes Donghyuck a few seconds and the alarm Taeyong set for 12 pm to come back to again and shout, “That motherfucker!” 

“So you're telling me,” Donghyuck says slowly, eyes staying on a smug Mark. “that this was all a scheme to make me lose the game?”

Mark hums, arms crossed in front of his chest and mouth pulled into a permanent smile. They're sitting in the community room, both on their respective couches, a small crowd around them, namely those who didn't go to sleep because they still had targets to catch.

“Did you really think I'd suck that much at Korean even though I'm literally studying at a Korean University, you know, in Korea?”

“Yeah, even I found that weird,” Jisung quips and Donghyuck glares at him. He's not in the mood to talk about how naive he was regarding Mark. Sure, he might have thought that it wasn't exactly normal but there are a lot of people who speak English in this day and age and it wouldn't be weird to not be able to speak Korean as a foreigner. And apparently nobody else knew about it either so Donghyuck isn't the only one who fell for it.

Mark waves dismissively and explains, “Originally, I didn't plan on doing this but when Johnny got me from the airport he talked a lot about this _hunting game_. And he also told me that Donghyuck is really hard to trick and he feels like someone else should get the sweets at least once and so he set me on it. I wouldn't have been able to do it if I could just talk normally to you guys 'cause then you'd be suspicious of me too. And so, I pretended not to be able to understand you and used that as an excuse to not get too close to you guys.” Mark shrugs and glances over to Taeyong. “Taeyong hyung got roped into it too to assure that I would get Donghyuck as a target but other than Johnny and him no one else knew.”

Everyone gapes at him. It's just so weird to hear him speak in Korean so well. He does have a slight accent but he's understandable and not even half as stilted as he pretended it was. 

Donghyuck holds his hands up, trying to gather his thoughts. This is, honestly, kind of fucking him up.

“Okay, so I kinda get that you were pretending to not speak Korean to seem innocent and all that stuff but why did you kiss me on the cheek?”

All of the five gathered residents blink at Donghyuck. It's Ten who bursts out laughing first, the rest follow not too soon. Only Mark is still looking at Donghyuck like he's disappointed.

Donghyuck furrows his eyebrows and hisses, “What, did I say something wrong?”

”Come with me for a second?” Mark offers instead of an answer and gets up, holding out a hand for Donghyuck to take. Hesitantly and under the gazes of the others, Donghyuck takes Mark's hand. It's warm and it makes Donghyuck's heart flutter just a little bit. Kunhang wolf whistles and Ten joins in. Donghyuck tells them to shut the fuck up while being dragged out of the room.

“Where are you even taking me?” Donghyuck asks as Mark and he leisurely make their way upstairs. Mark only looks at him, smiles and squeezes his hand. This bastard. He knows exactly what he's doing, none of that 'innocent, good boy' shit. Maybe, deep down, Donghyuck knew about this side of him and maybe that's why he couldn't help but crush on Mark. (That's definitely not it but Donghyuck isn't ready to admit that yet)

They end up in Mark's room. The walls are already full with posters, music sheets and quotes, a few pictures thrown in here and there. A guitar is resting in the corner and an electronic keyboard right next to it. The room looks cozy with a few stuffed toys on the bed, smaller ones on the desk. It's kinda cute.

“Alright,” Donghyuck starts, only now noticing the they never let go of each other's hands. He doesn't really want to let go though. “I know where you were taking me now but why exactly? I presume you're going to explain to me why you kissed my cheek but why didn't you do it, y'know, in the community room?”

Mark raises an eyebrow and turns to face Donghyuck right on, looking him into the eyes as he asks, “Would you want my confession to take place in front of others?”

Donghyuck freezes at those words, mouth opening slightly as he tries to find out whether he imagined what Mark just said. There's no way he _actually_ said that, right?

Mark confessing to Donghyuck? Why?

Mark huffs and rolls his eyes with a fond smile, flicking Donghyuck's forehead. With a startled _hey_ , Donghyuck covers his forehead with his free hand and watches as Mark chuckles at his misery. Donghyuck frowns and pouts. His pout is his strongest weapon so he makes sure to use it when he asks, “What was that for?”

Mark sighs and his thumb rubs circles on Donghyuck's hand. He doesn't answer right away, seemingly trying to find the right words. 

“Okay, so, I know we've only known each other for about a month and we only really talk about school and not much else when we even talk. But I really like you Donghyuck and I wanted to ask you if you'd like to date.”

Mark looks hopeful, wide eyes and eyebrows lifted upwards. He's so cute, Donghyuck can't even try to hold back the smile that's making it's way onto his face. Still smiling, Donghyuck replies, “Of course I'll date you, you adorable asshole.”

Mark laughs and pulls Donghyuck into a hug. It's warm, just like holding hands and Donghyuck can't help but close his eyes and lean into the embrace. He may have lost the game but this is way better than winning tons of sweets he'll share with the others anyways. This is something he doesn't mind losing for.

**Author's Note:**

> For anyone who wants to know, this is who was supposed to hunt whom:
> 
> Donghyuck - Yuta  
> Yuta - Shotaro  
> Shotaro - Lucas  
> Lucas - Jungwoo, Jungwoo - Kun, Kun - Renjun  
> Renjun - Doyoung, Doyoung - Yangyang  
> Yangyang - Jeno  
> Jeno - Jaemin, Jaemin - Sungchan  
> Sungchan - Chenle, Chenle - Mark
> 
> Kunhang - Ten
> 
> Ten - Taeil, Taeil - Jaehyun, Jaehyun - Taeyong
> 
> Taeyong - Sicheng, Sicheng - Dejun, Dejun - Jisung 
> 
> Jisung - Johnny, Johnny - Kunhang
> 
> Mark - Hyuck
> 
> While I was thinking about who got who (since I only planned for Mark to have Hyuck) I was counting the members and I was like, 'Wait, I'm missing someone' and I went through all of them going by age but after that I was still missing someone and, like, 10 minutes after I was like, 'Ten! I forgot Ten!'  
> I think Jisung isn't a good influence on me.
> 
> Btw, if anyone wants to read something Christmas themed from me, feel free to tell me. You don't have to give a suggestion if you don't want to but it'd be nice to know if anyone would be interested in reading something christmassy :)


End file.
